


Closing Doors

by mmmdraco



Series: Sterek Week 2014 [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Chemistry, M/M, Sterek Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-25
Updated: 2014-06-25
Packaged: 2018-02-06 05:14:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1845640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mmmdraco/pseuds/mmmdraco
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles gets a door shut in his face on the way into chemistry class.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Closing Doors

Stiles glared at the classroom door that had just been slammed shut in front of him. "Seriously? Dick!"

Rounding the corner, Scott paused next to Stiles to look between him and the door. "Dude, why'd you shut the door?"

"Yeah, Scotty. I'm the one who closed the door. On myself." He huffed and turned the knob, pushing it in and entering the room. His anger ebbed at the sight of a substitute teacher in place of the chemistry teacher that Stiles was reasonably certain was going to casually slip and pour acid all over him one day. She was young and cute, reminding him a lot of one of his childhood friends, but the best part was the fact that she smiled when Stiles and Scott sat down instead of glaring... like Derek Hale was. Derek Hale who'd slammed a door in his face only moments before. Stiles glared back and turned his attention to the teacher.

"Mr. Harris had to have emergency surgery last night for appendicitis and will probably be out for a while, so I'm not going to bother to follow his rules. He says here that you guys don't have assigned lab partners and that's stupid. You're working with chemicals, so you should be able to develop trust with a person in order to better utilize your time." She paused. "And I guess I should tell you that I'm Ms. Simmons." She smirked and ran her index finger over a notebook in front of her on the desk.

Stiles sat back in his chair, grinning widely. Yeah, Scott as a lab partner all week? Okay, so Stiles would have to do most of the work, but then he'd probably get to help raise Scott's Chemistry grade which would make him the best friend ever and deserving of all of the extra cupcakes at Scott's upcoming birthday party. All of those thoughts dropped away as he heard Ms. Simmons call out the names of two of this classmates. "What?"

Scott groaned from the seat next to him. "Assigned partners? This is so lame." But then he was paired with Allison Argent and seemed to war with himself over whether it was okay to be happy about it. "Sorry, Stiles. Hope you get Lydia!"

Licking his lower lip and sucking it into his mouth, Stiles glanced over at the strawberry blonde fixing her makeup and wondered if she knew he existed yet. Not like it would matter, really, because he had kind of started realizing that his crush on her was probably more academic than anything, but still... Ms. Simmon's voice broke through his thoughts. "Derek Hale and... I have no idea how to pronounced this name. It's... German?"

"Polish," Derek said suddenly, glaring at Stiles once again. "Call him Stiles."

"How did you know my name was Polish?" Stiles slid around in his chair to face Derek, ignoring the fact that one of his ankles was now looped in his backpack strap. "And why did you shut the door on me earlier?"

Jaw tensing, Derek turned his head away, leaving Stiles to look at his stubbled jawline and his... pink ears? Why in the world would Derek Hale have pink ears?

"Okay, class. Since it looks like you're talking about neutralizing acids, today we're going to do an experiment with antacids." Ms. Simmons held up a bottle of Tums. "Everyone stand up and find your lab partner and then find a table. We'll discuss required equipment when everyone sits."

Stiles stood up and immediately tripped on his backpack, groaning as his elbow slammed against the edge of one of the lab tables. Rubbing it, he moved over to Derek's table and took a seat. "You don't have to worry about your grade with me, you know," he said conversationally. "I'm pretty good in chem."

Derek gave him a look that Stiles couldn't quite understand the significance of, though it felt like something important. "I know." Derek cleared his throat and scraped a thumb nail along the corners of his textbook. "I'm not bad either."

"Dude, there is a different between not bad and pretty good." Stiles stretched his arm out, still rubbing at the spot where he'd hit it.

With a roll of his eyes, Derek said, "Don't call me Dude. It's Derek."

Stiles cleared his throat and nodded. "Okay, yeah. Derek. I'll just call you Derek, then."

"I didn't mean to shut the door on our earlier. Sorry about that." Derek's fingers curled around the front cover of his book, worrying at it with his fingers.

"Really?" Stiles snorted. "Because the looking right at me and shoving the door closed inches in front of my face kind of said otherwise."

Looking around quickly, Derek moved closer to Stiles and whispered his next words. "I just wasn't expecting you to be right behind me. It startled me."

"I startled you. You, Mr. Basketball Team Captain who plays like he has eyes in the back of his head didn't notice me right behind him?" Stiles groaned. "Well, now I know for certain that I'm practically invisible in high school."

Derek shook his head, speaking quietly as Ms. Simmons started to explain the experiment. "You're not invisible, Stiles. If anything, sometimes you're too noticeable."

Stiles was sorely tempted to ask if he could have extra antacids for the sudden churning in his stomach. "Because I'm an annoying pest? At least, that's what Jackson says. He's not afraid to slam me into doors, so I doubt he'd have a problem slamming them in my face."

"Jackson Whittemore is a pretentious douchebag," Derek whispered. "And not just because he's the lacrosse captain."

"Little rivalry there about which team is the best in the school? Sorry, but I have to side with lacrosse since that's what I play." Stiles shrugged one shoulder, finally deigning to grab a pencil from his backpack.

Derek ran a hand through his hair before grabbing a pencil of his own. "Maybe you should come join the basketball team, then. Then... you'd be somewhere people might appreciate you."

"What, like you?" Stiles laughed suddenly, covering his mouth with one hand to damper the noise.

Coughing, Derek looked away for a moment. "Do you not want me to appreciate you?"

"Not on the basketball court. Maybe at the movies or out to dinner, but I promise that I am far better with smaller balls than I am with larger ones."

Jaw tensing again, Derek stared at Stiles for a long moment. "So, can I appreciate you for dinner and a movie Friday night at seven?"

"Yes?" Stiles' eyes went wide. "Wait, did you just ask me on a date?"

Derek's eyes went wide, his eyebrows trying to migrate up to his hairline. "Did you just say yes?"

Stiles rubbed at the back of his neck with one hand, clearing his throat softly. "Yeah. Wanna see that new baseball movie?"

"You just can't stop talking about balls, can you?" Derek laughed and stood up from his seat. "We need to go grab our equipment, I think."

"Yeah, okay." Stiles followed Derek around to the different stations set up to get the various things they needed, happy to hold the unbreakable things while Derek carried the glassware and hydrochloric acid. "So, um, this date thing... it's not a weird prank, is it? Because, hey, if you're paying? I'll still go even if you're just doing it to humiliate me."

Derek set his armload down on their lab table and reached up to put one hand on Stiles' shoulder. "I'm a jerk who doesn't know how to handle having a crush on a guy, Stiles. That's all."

"I'm an asshole," Stiles said suddenly, wincing as the ring stand clattered against the desk as he set it down. "So, maybe we could make a decent pair."

"I hope so." Derek smiled and let go of Stiles' shoulder. "Now, do you want to be in charge of crushing the tablets or the titration of the congo red indicator?"

Stiles looked over the antacids they had and shrugged. "We can take turns. You can crush first and I'll titrate and then we'll switch for the next one."

"Do you always like to take turns?" Derek's ears were pink again as he started crushing the Maalox tablets.

Feeling a blush color his own face, Stiles began setting up the ring stand. "Sometimes I think that there are situations where everyone involved could get something out of trying each side of an experiment."

"Good." Derek smiled suddenly. "I do, too."

Fingers skating over the edge of a beaker, Stiles nodded. "Uh, good. Really good." He pointed to the mortar and pestle. "And I think we have a powder now."

Derek pushed it over with a snort of laughter. "Let's do this."

Adding the powder to the beaker with a measure of water and 3 drops of congo red indicator, Stiles nodded quickly. "Yeah, okay. Let's do this." Who knew if he'd actually be compatible at all with Derek? Sure, the guy was attractive, but relationships took more than attractive people. But, no way in hell was he going to say no to that kind of experiment.


End file.
